Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

Decades ago, concern was raised that the milk of dairy cows frequently contains a leukemia-causing virus. But they were talking about bovine leukemia, the leading cancer killer among dairy cattle. Most U.S. dairy herds are infected with the bovine leukemia virus; thus, the question of whether they’re releasing infectious virus into milk is an important public health consideration.

So, researchers at UPenn decided to put it to the test. And, indeed, infectious virus was demonstrated in the milk of 17 of the 24 cows tested, indicating that humans are often orally exposed to bovine leukemia virus.

But just because we’re exposed doesn’t mean it’s causing human disease. How do we know bovine leukemia virus can even infect human cells? We didn’t, until 1976, when it was discovered that bovine leukemia virus can indeed infect human, chimpanzee, and monkey cells. Okay, but that still doesn’t mean it necessarily causes cancer in other species.

You can’t lock human infants in a cage, and feed them infected milk. But, you can cage infant chimpanzees, and chimps Bwah and Roger—fed the infected milk—developed leukemia and died. We didn’t even know chimps could get leukemia. The fact that BLV-infected milk appeared to transmit or induce leukemia in our closest living relatives certainly did raise the stakes—or at least impugn the safety of steaks—but, human beings are not chimpanzees. Yes, our DNA may be 98% identical, but we may share 60% of our DNA with a banana. We need human studies.

Thanks to the pesky Nuremberg principles, we can’t do interventional trials. But, what about observational studies? Do cattle farmers have higher rates of cancer? Apparently so—leading some to suggest that milk- and egg-borne viruses may be important in the development of human leukemias and lymphomas.

But, farmers may be exposed to all sorts of potential carcinogens, such as pesticides. It’s like, yes, large animal vets have more leukemia and lymphoma, but some were also particularly lax in the use of X-ray protective equipment. So, it didn’t necessarily have anything to do with viruses.

What we needed were so-called serology studies—testing people’s blood for antibodies against the virus, which would prove human exposure—and we got ‘em. Ten different studies looking for bovine leukemia virus antibodies in cancer patients and non-cancer patients; creamery employees vs. office employees; veterinarians; unpasteurized milk drinkers; the whole gamut—and not a single study found a single individual with antibodies to BLV.

So, 1981, case closed; strong evidence BLV was not transmissible to people. But, the strength of the evidence is only as strong as the strength of the test. Bwah and Roger didn’t develop detectable antibodies either—and they died from it.

The tests back then were just not really sensitive. Clearly, the question of whether bovine leukemia virus poses a public health hazard deserves a thorough investigation, using highly sensitive molecular probes. It would take 20 years, but here it is—a landmark study that we’ll cover, next.

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

Decades ago, concern was raised that the milk of dairy cows frequently contains a leukemia-causing virus. But they were talking about bovine leukemia, the leading cancer killer among dairy cattle. Most U.S. dairy herds are infected with the bovine leukemia virus; thus, the question of whether they’re releasing infectious virus into milk is an important public health consideration.

So, researchers at UPenn decided to put it to the test. And, indeed, infectious virus was demonstrated in the milk of 17 of the 24 cows tested, indicating that humans are often orally exposed to bovine leukemia virus.

But just because we’re exposed doesn’t mean it’s causing human disease. How do we know bovine leukemia virus can even infect human cells? We didn’t, until 1976, when it was discovered that bovine leukemia virus can indeed infect human, chimpanzee, and monkey cells. Okay, but that still doesn’t mean it necessarily causes cancer in other species.

You can’t lock human infants in a cage, and feed them infected milk. But, you can cage infant chimpanzees, and chimps Bwah and Roger—fed the infected milk—developed leukemia and died. We didn’t even know chimps could get leukemia. The fact that BLV-infected milk appeared to transmit or induce leukemia in our closest living relatives certainly did raise the stakes—or at least impugn the safety of steaks—but, human beings are not chimpanzees. Yes, our DNA may be 98% identical, but we may share 60% of our DNA with a banana. We need human studies.

Thanks to the pesky Nuremberg principles, we can’t do interventional trials. But, what about observational studies? Do cattle farmers have higher rates of cancer? Apparently so—leading some to suggest that milk- and egg-borne viruses may be important in the development of human leukemias and lymphomas.

But, farmers may be exposed to all sorts of potential carcinogens, such as pesticides. It’s like, yes, large animal vets have more leukemia and lymphoma, but some were also particularly lax in the use of X-ray protective equipment. So, it didn’t necessarily have anything to do with viruses.

What we needed were so-called serology studies—testing people’s blood for antibodies against the virus, which would prove human exposure—and we got ‘em. Ten different studies looking for bovine leukemia virus antibodies in cancer patients and non-cancer patients; creamery employees vs. office employees; veterinarians; unpasteurized milk drinkers; the whole gamut—and not a single study found a single individual with antibodies to BLV.

So, 1981, case closed; strong evidence BLV was not transmissible to people. But, the strength of the evidence is only as strong as the strength of the test. Bwah and Roger didn’t develop detectable antibodies either—and they died from it.

The tests back then were just not really sensitive. Clearly, the question of whether bovine leukemia virus poses a public health hazard deserves a thorough investigation, using highly sensitive molecular probes. It would take 20 years, but here it is—a landmark study that we’ll cover, next.

99 responses to “Is Bovine Leukemia Virus in Milk Infectious?”

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Camel milk, goat milk, sheep-millk, and the products derived by these? Assuming these have not been tested, but I do wonder about your thoughts. I have met vegans who say “oh, i wouldn’t do cow dairy but goat and sheep dairy is much safer.” I doubt it.

The bovine leukemia virus is a hearty virus. Although milk is pasteurized, it is often ‘flash pasteurized’ which means it is not held to temperatures high enough and long enough to completely kill all organisms. Pasteurization also does not kill the rGBH hormone. Pasteurization also does not kill prions which are occasionally found in our milk supply. Prions are the “bugs” that cause mad cow disease. Our milk supply system does not routinely test for prions nor does it test for BLV. You could be consuming either of those and you would never know. The European milk supply is tested for these items routinely.
Additionally, there is the raw milk movement – those who believe raw milk is better for you. These people are at much higher risk, in my opinion, for these milk born diseases.
I personally would eat meat again before I would ever consume dairy of any sort, in my opinion (and only if I had no other option!).

But, pasteurized milk is mere poison. A cow normally lives 15 to 20 years in their natural state. However, if you feed a calf pasteurized milk instead of raw milk, the calf usually dies in 60 days, with unhealthy and smaller organs, and is only two thirds the size of a sibling fed raw milk.

After autopsy of both calves in one study, one calf fed raw milk, the other fed pasteurized milk, the stomach of the calf fed on pasteurized milk was filled with runny indigestible pus. However, in the case of the calf fed fed on raw milk, it’s stomach was filled with healthy solid curd after the rennet had properly worked on the raw milk.

Pasteurized milk will do just the same to us, be indigestible, runt our growth, and fill our stomachs with unhealthy, disease-producing slop.

The government knows all this very well, and lets, or rather makes it happen because it is part of the drive to make everything unhealthy to limit our consciousness and shorten our lifespans in comparison to theirs, ‘the ‘gods’, or rather ‘chosenites’. “We are your friends” (Mars Attacks).

Also avoid A1 type protein milk, from Holsteins for instance, as that is unnatural, coming from a negative mutation, and exacerbates or even causes autoimmune disorders.

Milk from cows kept in healthy surroundings should not be diseased, and unhealthy cows result from intensive farming units where cows are routinely all pumped with antibiotics (a subclinical dose remaining in milk and meat products to then dampen our immune systems, leading to cancer etc.). This happens in 10,000 head or greater herds in intensive units for instance. Smaller herds of just a few score or a few hundred cows in open pastures with protection against the elements in barns at night are much healthier.

You can get prion disease, now thought to be implicated in many cases of Alzheimer’s, merely from having dental tools or surgical instruments used on you after they have been used on someone infected with prions, despite them having been autoclaved. But, simple ozone is known to sterilize prions, but try tell a doctor or a dentist that, they will look at you like you need locking up (you mustn’t try to interfere with the program you see, as far as they are concerned).

The virus cancer link was discredited in the Nixon “Virus Cancer Program” which sought to determine if RNA viruses could be the catalyst for anaplasia because the Rous chicken virus, an RNA virus did cause non-cancerous tumors in chickens. The program was a failure in finding this link.
Whether or not this bovine virus exists, whether its an RNA virus or in fact what exactly it causes in cows are important questions.
The other virus type, DNA virus as we know in Herpes, Chicken Pox, Genital warts, are cytotoxic and kill the cells they infect in order to multiply. Cancer however is cell proliferation. DNA virus are not responsible for cancers or cancer would be contagious!!!
Cancer is Aneuploidy, not gene mutation caused.

Thank you so much for your work on this! I wish more doctors covered BLV in their talks about milk. Dr. McDougal has for a few years. But I have been waiting for a substantial full talk (one hard hitting talk) from one of the plant based doctors that covers all aspects of why milk in unhealthy. This is a great start and I hope more doctors pay attention to this issue and inform others of it. Thank you again for the amazing work you do in sharing the science with everyone!!! :) Really appreciate Dr. Greger and his entire staff’s work on this site. ps – love the Book How Not To DIe- I heard a young recently graduated nutritionist speak at a doctor office, sadly she said to stay away from fad diets like the Ornish one and she talked about needing to protein combine if you are a vegetarian etc. :( she had many old myths even though she just graduated, it was really a bummer, but I thanked her for her time and presentation with a copy of your book – I told her that it was really cool as all the references were there – so if she agrees or disagrees with anything she can look up the science herself – hopefully she will and maybe she will ditch some of the myths she learned in school – fingers crossed

I agree with you B on wishing more doctors would speak up and on how disheartening to see recent graduates behind the science. But hey! good on you for gifting Dr Greger”s book – that is brilliant. Her real education is about to begin LOL

You, then, also need to speak up to your patients – every day, in your practice – and not stay silent. Your silence, an unwillingness to speak up proactively, to your patients is a part of the problem. As we all know, LEGALLY, in this society we can’t do or say anything without the blessing of the phrase “check with your doctor”. As if doctors know everything, which they do not. As a physician, you need to speak up to the AMA and pressure backwards in their direction to stand up for the true health of their patients and not just toe the line of the meat-dairy-pharmaceutical industry. Start exhibiting TRUE HEALING instead of just throwing pills at symptoms. Physicians have the opportunity to be a true part of the solution . . .if only they would grow a collective backbone. The science is there. How many years did it take for the AMA to finally dump the cigarette industry????? Has your professional organization learned nothing from that? Don’t get me wrong, . . I have family who are physicians. But they are spineless I am sorry to say.
I urge you, Dr. Haile, to be a part of the solution and speak up, speak loud, speak often and come to this site to be supported. We WILL support you.

Do you happen to know Dr. Halle, or how he practices medicine? Do you know that he “throws pills at symptoms” and does not exhbit “TRUE HEALING” or speaking “proactively” to patients? If not, then you might want to reconsider the tone and content of your reply, which to me is an uncalled for reproach of someone you do not know. I am always happy to hear from doctors on this forum, but if we are going to attack them, then we cannot expect many of them to participate.

My comments are directed at the larger AMA of which Dr. Halle, if he is a licensed physician in this country, is a member. I encourage Dr. Halle to speak up to his professional organization on behalf of his patients. And, as I said already, come to this site for support. And if Dr. Halle would like to have further discussion and advocate for himself as to his practice on this site, I’m very interested in how he practices medicine. And would welcome his further discussion and point of view.
Thank you, David, for your reproach of me. Perhaps we are even now, eh?

Then direct your comments to AMA. It eliminates confusion. This is an old post from Robert Haile
Robert Haile 2 months ago
I live in a Blue Zone, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. The people are generally poor and can not afford much meat, fish, dairy. Rice and beans and corn tortillas are the predominant aspect of the diet surrounded by salad, cooked vegetables, and fruit. When eaten, as discussed about many Chinese in The China Study, meats, fish, and dairy are more flavouring, too expensive to be the core of the diet. People walk and bike mostly in very hilly country; social bonds and spirituality are also very strong. The water, also, is laden with great minerals such as magnesium and calcium. There is also a lot of manual work in tropical heat. I think all of he above are important.

This is not an old post from Robert Halle 2 months ago. If you look you will see it was posted 7 hrs ago from right now.

Mr. Halle is a member of the AMA. The AMA IS a collection of its members. If there were no members there would be no AMA. I have directed my comments at both because they are, in fact, one and the same. I have family members who are physicians who don’t talk about how to change their patients diets to provide them better health because it is not a part of the AMA “position” to do so. Despite the fact that they know that diet and lifestyle changes will change their patients lives for the better. They only prescribe medicines for symptoms because THAT is the official stance of the AMA. What most people don’t know is that back in the 1940’s (roughly) the AMA got Congress to pass a law that states that only a drug can cure a disease. That has been the path of the AMA ever since. My Aunt was a cardiologist. We have discussed this issue numerous time.
If you read Esselstyne’s book you would see Dr. Esselstyne’s question to his peer, an interventional cardiologist. The question being “Why don’t you tell your patients about how a diet change can change their health and reverse their heart disease?” The answer from his peer interventional cardiologist? “You should see my billables. I’m at $500,000.00 per year”. The money was more important to this cardiologist than his patients health. Everyone should be appalled at this withholding of information from patients. Everyone. Including doctors.
If YOU happen to be the person whose life is negatively affected because YOU didn’t get the straight and honest information about how to change your health FROM YOUR OWN PHYSICIAN WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR GIVING YOU THE CORRECT INFORMATION, YOU would be upset as well. The job of your physician is to act on your best behalf – not the best behalf of the physicians boat payment. Physicians take the Hippocratic Oath which states first and foremost to do no harm. Withholding information that could save your life because your physician has financial interests of his/her own is morally reprehensible, immoral, against the Hippocratic oath and possibly illegal. We should ALL expect better behavior from all of our physicians. And until we all stand up and speak out and tell our physicians that we expect better information and more honest information from them ALL (inclusive of the AMA) we will continue to get what we’ve always got. I certainly hope that Dr. Halle is following this conversation. I hope he is seeing that his lack of spine – as he represents the AMA by virtue of being a member of its organization – is ultimately detrimental to his patients. What a shame. What a shame for his lack of ethics. But mostly, what a shame for those harmed by their doctors who don’t give them better information. What a shame for the children of the people who are harmed by the deaths of these people. What a shame for all of us who pay increasing health care costs because interventional cardiologist would rather bill out a half a million dollars of stents, heart surgeries and other interventions that do not cure, prevent or otherwise help those with heart disease. (and other chronic diseases related to diet). We are all paying the price by this silence and lack of responsibility by physicians to genuinely help their patients. Dean Ornish’s information has been out there for DECADES now and the AMA has done NOTHING to adopt his protocols. Let me tell you – Medicare now pays for Dr. Ornish’s heart disease reversal program. MEDICARE! And the AMA can’t get on board? You’ve really got to ask yourself why not.

to the person who said to me “Peace” . . .yes, . . I see your point. No one likes to argue. But let me just say that when it is YOUR family member who has died from a preventable disease, let me see how peaceful YOU feel about it.
Thank you for listening.

All AMA doctors are not alike. In my opinion you are being unfair but apparently needing to let off steam.

Robert Hailes post from two months ago was a comment he made on —
Discussion on NutritionFacts.org 209 comments
The Hispanic Paradox: Why do Latinos Live Longer?
Which I copied and pasted into my comment. Peace.

Ginger, I understand that you’re angry but you’re taking it out on the wrong person. This man doesn’t even practice in America, if you read the post that Jean pasted, he’s clearly from a very different area of the world. You’re so convinced that he’s in the AMA when he doesn’t even live in America…

Ginger, I do not know your background but as someone on the “inside” I really feel this movement must include all of us and I applaud you! I really feel your sense of activism and frustration with the poor care too many people are getting from their physicians. But as I am sure you know too well when we go to the doctor we should all remember these same physicians are in too many cases eating some version of the american diet and too often are overweight, getting diabetes etc along with everyone else. I work as a pharmacist and my journey started with the film Forks Over Knives. This web-site is a God send, Dr Gregers book How Not to Die is priceless and Dr Mc Dougall’s book The Starch Solution is irreplaceable. Now I can only describe my past understanding of things as “left in the dark” and how I feel dispensing insulin to physicians with type two diabetes as bizzarro-land. I make no moral judgement of these physicians whatsoever and do not condemn them.( I would not say you do either!!) It is just plain old sad that this culture we are stuck in has misguided us all! And this is still an uphill battle because the pharmacists coming out of school show no signs of enlightenment either. Some of them look at you like you are crazy when you try to suggest milk is not a health food (until you exhastively explain it) and some think type two diabetes can not be reversed by diet. We the people must fight this where ever we can. When possible, patients can politely respond to any physician suggestions to eat dairy for bone health etc with a calm retort that instead they will eat kale since it is so much better. Also new mothers need to politely tell their pediatricians they don’t want animal based formulas etc. I only hope this web-site gets more and more popular.

Actually I left the AMA years ago when I practiced in the USA, as it is not a requirement. I always promote plant based diets, steering people away from meat and dairy, as well as encouraging them to exercise. I live that lifestyle myself: whole organic plant foods, daily exercise, and meditation. However, as you may know, people have been heavily indoctrinated and often are unwilling to change. A regular experience is to have diabetic patients, with one or multiple amputations, and/or a history of heart disease, and/or stroke, hypertension, etc., who visit reeking of smoke and still eat fast foods, blood pressure out of control, and extremely high blood sugars. I routinely counseled my patients against smoking and bad food choices referring them to addiction specialists and nutritionists. I routinely rounded on my hospitalized patients with psychologists, nutritionists, nurses and therapists. But throughout my memory, people have been indoctrinated by TV shows from Ben Casey and Dr Kildare, St Elsewhere, ER, etc where patients are taught to be passive and “fixed” by doctors with medicines and radical surgeries. As Dr Greger extensively reports Big food constantly deceives the public with deceptive studies and advertisements. Many people vacillate from do nothing to extreme unproven diets to gastric bypass surgery.

Hi Ginger,
I think you are spot on regarding the health concerns related to milk. As an oncologist, I have been telling my patients, and anyone who would listen, about this, since the 1990’s. The link is painfully obvious. While cow’s milk is not the cause of all cancer, I think it plays a significant role in the development of breast, prostate, and lymphoid cancers, in my observations, over the last 30 years. Sadly, modern medicine has become the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, when we should be helping people avoid the cliff. The power and money behind the dairy lobby, in the USA, Canada, Australasia, and now China is inestimable. The entire chemical warfare machine (from agrochemical giants, GMO feed giants, and fertiliser giants) is included in the promotion of the “farce” that we need to drink milk “for our health”. “The system” has its ways of marginalising anyone who “gets in the way” of their propaganda. The same could be said about the government propaganda that mining waste (fluorosilicic acid) is good for our teeth and belongs in our water supply. The systematic promotion of the things that are killing us (glyphosate, cow’s milk, high fructose corn syrup, nutrisweet , industrial waste fluoride, and GMO foods) raises my concern for this being part of an active effort to exterminate humanity with our own food/water supply (anyone heard of agenda 21?). At the very least, government regulators turn a blind eye to health concerns, knowing that their beloved food/drug industry will profit from increased human dis-ease. The reasons I think it took so long to break the AMA’s addiction to cigarettes were:1 their cynical addiction to advertising dollars, 2.wilful ignore-ance, and 3. their coziness with government regulators who recognise great revenue from tobacco taxation and the benefit (to the government) of not having to pay SSI or Medicare for much more than a few years, since most smokers don’t live past the age of 70 (This debate is contained in congressional minutes). Our government, cynically, doesn’t really want you to live once you stop paying taxes. I can find no evidence to refute this! The so called “war on cancer” is purely symbolic when we look at what is happening “behind the scenes”. People need to “get” that when they vote for politicians and consider their choices carefully. We are, for the first time in my medical career, seeing the life expectancy of Americans on the decline. With all due respect, you are incorrect about the numbers of doctors in the AMA. My understanding is that less than half of the doctors in the USA are members. The AMA now gets more revenue from selling bureaucracy manuals than from membership dues. They have thrown doctors and patients “under the bus”. AMA membership is not a requirement for medical practice in America, and doctors have left in droves. Sadly, most doctors are just so busy being regulated, sued, stressed, and harassed that they don’t read but a few journals (if any), and most of these have been co-opted by industry. It is a sad state of affairs, indeed. We need to heal and empower more doctors to get over their fear of non-conformity and out of “the matrix”, which is much bigger than the AMA.

Nearly all of the presentations about cell biology and neurobiology research at my university involve experiments conducted upon animals. In neurobiology experiments, the end result is usually euthanasia for the animals so very specific brain tissues can be analyzed. I think that refusal to use model organisms for biological research and development of biomedical therapies would be a catastrophic mistake, presuming that the goal is to treat and prevent diseases that occur in humans. However, in this country most diseases occur from eating overt junk food and factory farmed animal products. If eating as Dr. Greger prescribes bestowed indefinite healthy lifespan, then I would regard animal experimentation as not worthwhile. But until we can ameliorate any disease or infection handily, I don’t think we can handicap ourselves in the endeavor to conquer disease by refusing to use animals whenever necessary for experimentation.

Give me a couple thousand well-educated neuroscientists, a couple decades, and a whole lot of funding. In the end we will still be befuddled by nebulous, immeasurable things like spirituality, but I think we will be able to alter human behavior so that undesirable behaviors (which must have served a valuable evolutionary role), can be removed. Such alteration will probably involve ablation of specific nuclei within the amygdala and perhaps other structures of the limbic system, or perhaps drugs targeted to specific brain regions. For now, propaganda that makes violence, tribal mindset, and wanton greed socially unacceptable is warranted. Humans are very social creatures who tend to go with what’s popular (including unverifiable and perhaps delusional spiritual thinking), so I propose making this website and the hardcore science upon which it is based popular. And this website is about proper nutrition for humans, not animal welfare.

In case disqus is a bit off in getting to the comment, the comments starts with: “ARE ANIMAL STUDIES “strongly suggestive”??? I used to think that animal testing in medical research was a sad necessity if …”

I’ve been made aware that in-vitro studies using cultured human tissue is becoming more effective for scientific research in many instances, and that trend ought to continue. I hope that the scientific community will keep up to date with the best methods for seeking out what wants to be discovered. I don’t personally know anyone at my university who enjoys euthanizing animals, but the general consensus is that animal experimentation is still a necessity for most neurobiological experiments.

I wish my doctors told my dad as a kid to feed me more veggies to get my calcium if I won’t drink milk. I wish my doctors told my dad it was actually healthy that I didn’t like milk but if he insist than try plant based milk. My neighbor gave me my fist glass of almond milk about 10 years ago and I drink it now. I had never heard of it. But if you speak up than maybe a kid won’t need to fight as much cus milk hurts her tummy. And maybe my dad would have stopped the whole u need more milk and would have said let us try new veggies. My doctor said keep serving it to her and she will grow out of it. Or how about don’t let her leave the table without finishing the plate cus your the parent. Well 20 years later I still hate heat, seafood and diary and all I did was hide me hate by throwing food away and spending my allowance at the school vending machine. So it was worse than if my family doctor said don’t make her eat it but have her try beans with dinner instead of meat or have her eat broccoli instead of a class of milk. Speak up for me.

I do believe that when an animal is about to be slaughtered it curses its tormenter, i.e., humans, in its mind. It’s all karma. That’s why I laugh when people spout nonsense about “humanely” slaughtering animals. As if the animal signed up for it.

Animals are too innocent to do that. Its just how things are, the compounds they are made of are not good for us.. pure and simple. Makes me think of some friends of mine that say when you pray for your meat product saying “thank you for sacrifice for being my food” it wont be bad for your health anymore. Com’on.. sometimes I hate everyone!

What is so ironic John is that what harms us also harms the planet. Beyond the cruelty and health issues, domesticated animals raised for food produce more greenhouse gases than all types of transportation combined in addition to the CO2 absorbing jungles being torn down to raise them. Furthermore, tropical jungles produce their own rainfall, and when cut down turn into deserts. Thus eating meat worsens climate change and we are now at > 400 ppm CO2 which may be permanent. CO2 is sinking into the oceans at a rapid rate, acidifying the oceans with the PH now being 8.1 from 8.2 which initially does not sound like much but considering the vastness of the oceans and that PH is on a logarithmic scale, the changes are massive.

I can’t wait for the next episode! I raised my children vegetarian since 1989 when they were 5 and 7, but was afraid to take milk and eggs out of their diets, because I didn’t know any other vegetarians, let alone vegans, and we had no internet! My son was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia at age 17. The doctors, of course, insisted that diet had nothing to do with cancer development or treatment. I did my own research and went vegan that year. My son was being fed cow’s milk-based formula in the ICU right before he died at age 22.

Salette, my stomach turned and my heart cringed to read your story about your son. I, too, have lost family members from cancer and from what I believe are diseases related to consuming animal products. My Mother and my brother. My Mother believed the diary industry line that milk was nature’s most complete food and she drank milk in place of eating especially as she got older. Breast cancers over the years and cancer took her and I believe it is related completely to her high cow milk consumption.
An interesting book you may want to read is Whitewashed by Joseph Keon or watch a Youtube video of his here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRimJqx392g&app=desktop

The dairy industry has the american public completely brainwashed and scared to death to get rid of them. I gave up dairy in my teens due to severe stomach issues and I confess I was afraid I might harm my health. But the sharp stomach pains would not let me drink that nasty milk. In my 60’s now I see that my life without dairy has not harmed me in any way – bone scan completely normal :-)
Please let me also share with you that my cousin’s daughter, 29 now, just gave birth to her first baby boy. Normal weight and size. She has never eaten meat – ever – as she did not like it from the very beginning. She ate dairy until her tweens when she left that behind as well. She had a normal pregnancy, normal baby, normal everything. She is raising her baby WFPB.
Dr. Benjamin Spock – known as America’s pediatrician – in his last book recommended whole food plant based vegan diets for all babies and children as well as adults. He became WFPB in his later years before his death (at 98 I believe?) because he saw the evidence for it. As such, his health improved in those years of his life. He documents this in his last book.

I bring all of this up because those of us who see long term health and lack of health degradation from the elimination of animal products from our lives should be speaking up and sharing our success so that others won’t be afraid to raise their children on a healthy diet. I had to wade through the fear I was harming my health by not drinking milk in 1970 all alone. I hope that other Mother’s and new Mother’s reading this will feel calm and centered to feed their children WFPB diets and not let the ‘do-gooders’ in society fear monger them into maintaining the meat-dairy status quo.
But think about this – even cows don’t drink milk after infancy. Even cows (and all grazing mammals including whales) don’t eat meat.

I am so sorry about the loss of your son. But the best thing we can do now is to speak out in the name and memories of those we have loved and lost to the murderous and irresponsible actions of the meat and dairy industries.
All the best to you.

It seems logical that, if one wants to avoid infections of almost any kind, one should eat and cohabit with organisms that are relatively distant on the evolutionary tree. When humans started domesticating animals, all sorts of “new” disease became commonplace, including diphtheria, influenza A, measles, mumps, pertussis, rotavirus, smallpox, tuberculosis, and others.

BSE, or mad cow disease, is an example of a disease that occurs in cows when we feed them ground-up cow. Kuru is a disease that occurs only in humans who eat humans. While these diseases are caused by prions, it wouldn’t be surprising if other diseases, such as cancer, could also be contracted from eating our close relatives, and in the case of cow’s milk, their secretions.

So I’ll take my chances with bananas, but leave the chimp-burgers on the table.

I’m with you!!
Also, in regards to prion disease. There have been instances where prions have been found in the American cattle/dairy herds. This is done by visual inspection of cattle who seem to be exhibiting signs of mad cow disease. Sometimes the disease can be traced to another infected cow in which case all cattle related to the ill animal are destroyed. Having said that, it has also been noted that some mad cow diseased cattle seem to have no relatives with disease. So the question is, . . where did the disease come from? And the answer at this point in time seems to be that mad cow prion disease can spontaneously develop from the ground and develop itself and contaminate the cow.
Always interested to see how disease moves itself along.

Just about all the foods we find in the major grocery stores such as milk has multiple health risks. And now, I just read on CNN website that bees have recently been placed on the endangered species list. Many suspect Monsonto’s work in agriculture and other pesticides as a major reason for this. Between our contaminated food, endangered species, the degradation of our borders, language, and culture….all I see is an ever downward spiral of our nation and environment much like Rome in its last dying days.

Search for eggs on this site and you will see that cage free is NOT what most people want on this site.
I grind flaxseed and add chia seed and water and let sit for a few minutes to make egg substitute for baking waffles. Bob’s mill 7 grain pancake mix with no milk or eggs. I add oatmeal, chopped walnuts, top with mangos and blueberries, and it makes a delicious waffle!! http://amzn.to/2d3ZfoT

From a health perspective, eggs are not readily tolerated by most people. According to researcher Laura Power, PhD, eggs elicit negative Immunoglobulin G (IgG) rises in all blood types. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) are antibodies. Simply put, this means that all blood types respond to eggs as a foreign invader and fight against them to one extent or another. In her research, published in the Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine as “Biotype Diets System: Blood types and food allergies”, Dr. Powers, in specific quantifiable measurements, found that blood type A1 had a severe IgG antibody response to eggs. Blood type A2 had the highest and most severe IgG antibody response to eggs of all blood types on her grading scale, in which “severe” is rated as the most negative pathogenic response and “strong” is rated as the second most pathogenic response. Blood type B had the second highest antibody response to eggs on her rating scale. Blood type O had a severe reaction to eggs. Blood type AB had a strong reaction to eggs. Blood type Rh-negative had a severe reaction to eggs. While the various blood types reacted to many different foods in different ways, IgG high responses were consistently highly significant amongst all blood types.

In addition to the production of antibodies that egg consumption elicits in all blood types, there are the explicit risks of Salmonella poisoning and other illnesses that eggs pose. There may also be a type of virus-like organism found in chicken tumors that may be transmittable to humans. This organism is thought to be identical to the microbe found by Dr. Peyton Rous in chicken tumors, which he showed to be transmittable. For this pioneering work he received a Nobel Prize in 1966. The work by Virginia Livingston Wheeler, M.D., strongly suggests that most chickens have at least cancer by one year of age, and that this chicken cancer, like the Rous virus, may be transmittable to humans. Dr. Rous, Nobel Prize winner and long-time researcher at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, states that 95% of the chickens for sale in New York City are cancerous. He also concurs with other researchers in stating that the chicken cancer is transmissible. I have to note that the transmissibility of these chicken cancer viruses to humans has not been conclusively proven, but as consumer advocate Ralph Nader points out on this issue, there is no proof to show that the cancer is not transmitted. While this discussion specifically relates to the health of chickens, the primordial question remains: “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” In other words, is there a cancer virus such as the Rous Virus, that may be transmitted through the eggs? This is not completely clear.

When I was resident we were trying to eradicate brucellose and tuberculosis from animal contamination. Now we have less infections but far more cancers. When I wrote the clinical part of The Avocado Affair”, I saw that it was possible to use organic avocados , “apparently” good, as egg and dairies substitutes . I made new recipes, it works, I continue and feel well as almost all people around me.

Also view Joseph Keon, Ph.D.’s work on milk and the diseases it is linked to. His book is “Whitewashed” and his Youtube video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRimJqx392g
Dr. Keon references his statements in his books with scientific research as well.

Thank you Dr. Greger for getting the word out on this horrible and mostly unknown connection between milk and disease.
My Mother – 2 separate breast cancer diagnoses, died of cancer – huge milk drinker. Thought milk was nature’s perfect food – she believed the murderous hype of the dairy industry.
Doctors used to tell us smoking was good for us. They still tell us milk-drinking is good for us. To the physicians reading this site: When are YOU going to start speaking up and speaking out the truth? It is time!
Thank you.

It is very symple. Every species has own caracteristic milk useful for own childrens, for childrens of own animal species, and for nobody else.Cow milk is for calves,sheep milk is only for lambs and all rest milk of all rest mothers is for their own childrens only.

To understand why people drink milk today, you have to look at history. In the book “Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared M Diamond, it is shown where these ideas came from. It is basically about societies succeeding in hard times by breeding “easy to control” animals (genetically docile). The domination over these animals (cows, pigs, etc), gave western cultures a caloric advantage that allowed them to migrate by taking the animals with them. Every other reason was secondary (like health, flavor, etc). And thus, it emerged in western culture the ethnocentric idea that animal milk is good. Just because its calories were needed. Fast forward, and now the cultural context has changed but the inertia of the idea persists.

My body has known that milk does NOT do a body good since I was a widdle kid, but thanks to the great lies of industry was forced to drink it by all the “educated” adults. With even more reasons to avoid it, I wish I could just convince young parents with children, especially grandchildren, who get told gramma has an agenda!

I loved milk. Drank it with everything. Often had a second glass. Always paid for the “extra” half-pint in school. Always had sinus issues.

FFWD to now: I won’t touch the stuff and haven’t for years. Learned to bake/cook without it. Never have sinus/allergy/headache issues now. I don’t live on decongestants and antihistamines any longer. Sometimes I have a bit (of moo cow milk) that has been processed into cheese or ice-cream or other such dessert type of thing, but it’s infrequent AND I’ll get a little stuffy after I do.

Doctors didn’t have a clue back then (they never suggested dairy might be the root of my problem-I went to specialists, special tests-all that fee-generating stuff), and only a few good ones are beginning to get it now, and the COMPANIES are getting nervous.

If letting thy food be thy medicine (and not poisoning yourselves daily at the SAD feed trough) ever goes mainstream, a lot of big companies won’t be happy. They’ll have to adapt or go broke. That’s not my problem.

Okay, totally off topic, but wanted to share. Sometimes at night I get a serious “crunch craving” for something snacky like chips, but plant based and not fried or seriously salty like pretzels. Baking your own kelp or potato chips is kinda laborious if you just want a quick and easy bite, and I always seem to incinerate them anyway!If you’re familiar with Indian cuisine at all, maybe you’ve had papadams, a very thin dried lentil or dal wafer that is normally fried into crispy disks that then become half fat, but I found they will crisp beautifully in the microwave in about 30 seconds, a super quick, fat free and CHEAP snack! At about 30 calories per 6+ inch wafer and no fat, it really satisfies! You can get them plain, spicy, or really fiery, at any Indian market, your
choice, but I love them!

You can also nuke Mexican doritas, (chicharrones de harina) a wheat based pasta wheel that will also puff, or even dried rice based snacks like the veggie version of shrimp chips or other similar ethnic snacks in various shapes, even some rice noodles. (Regular pasta though mostly won’t puff well and is just too hard.) Though probably not as healthy as the papadams or some cut up veggies, still a far better speedy snack option than fried potato chips,nachos or other SAD choices when that urge strikes!

And speaking of microwaves, besides the hoopla you hear from the rabid alarmists, is there any REAL science that says they are harmful? Everything I’ve found says nuking is one of the least detrimental ways to cook most produce to preserve nutrients.

Microwave radiation doesn’t have nearly enough energy to make the food radioactive (as I was often warned of back in the 80s). I was once solemnly told that sprouts would not germinate in water that had been microwaved. “So I put it to the test…”, as Dr. G would say. I nuked some water for a good long time, repeatedly. The sprouts grew just fine.

I also crave crunchy, salty stuff sometimes. I ate a lot of chips in my early vegetarian years before wising up to how bad they were for me. Much has been said on this site about how much “100% vegan” fare is actually 100% junk food.

Mochi toasts up nicely, and I used to cut up thin slices of tempeh and put them under the broiler for a crunchy fix.

LOL, I had to try that BS “experiment” too. (What people won’t say to push their paranoia onto others!)

I love toasted nori and sea veggies in general, my seafood fix! I love haunting ethnic markets too for new foods and flavors. Thanks to the internet I can actually find the best way to use them, unlike the hit and miss method I used to employ.

Vege-tater: Fun post! Can you share your recipe and technique for maknig the papadams? Just blend up some lentils and spread thinly on a plate and micowave? Or is there more too it? Or are you buying them pre-made and just “crisping” them in the microwave? I’m very interested!
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When you puff up the doritas, are the doritas cooked first? How long do you zap?
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To answer your question about the microwave: If you do an internet search, you are likely to be inundated with a bunch of anti-micrwave pages. But from what I can tell, none of that is actually based on valid information. While I wouldn’t normally refer people to the following site, no one is wrong about everything. The following article is spot-on in my opinion, fully backed up, and easy to understand. http://www.drmyattswellnessclub.com/Microwave.htm Bottom line: Enjoy your microwave!
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Thanks for the microwave tips!

Yeah Thea, I get the papadams pre-made at the Indian market, less than 2 bucks for a package of quite a few super thin wafers that will puff up awesomely! (Unless you like heat, get the plain ones to start though. The spices are awesome, but some can be incendiary!)
I mostly find the wheel shaped doritas at a local market, and just spread out a small handful as is on a plate for maybe a minute in my microwave, and get a kick out of watching them puff up!
Another weird microwave trick…I discovered after trying to pop some old popcorn I’d had in a big jar for ages that wasn’t popping well, lots of kernels left over. I read somewhere it’s the moisture content that determines popping and if you soaked the dry popcorn for a few in water, then dry it off, it would help. Being me, I just tried soaking 1/4 cup in hot water for a minute, drained it a little strainer and immediately tried popping it without drying it, figuring the water would quickly evaporate. I just poured it into a paper lunch bag and nuked it for 3 minutes, and it worked awesomely! The only problem is trying to get a small sprinkle of salt to stick to dry popcorn, so next time I lightly salted the still damp popcorn before popping and problem solved! Who knew?
I found the same result researching microwaves. I was so hesitant to get one way back when, but now I use it a lot so curious.

As usual, Dr Greger bias is toward meat eaters while ignoring the danger of pollution threatens us all, meat eater or plant food eater. This kind of bias skews people to think that if they eat plant foods then they must be safe.

Not all but the majority of milk yes if we were generalise the results of this study. However, please do watch Dr Greger next video on the topic as it will reveal more insightful information about this.

On top of this matter, I highly recommend you to read this short summary on dairy to learn how it can impact our health in other ways.

I know this is out off topic,
But if i will not write it here, most chances, nobody will pay attention,
And i believe it’s very important and must be addressed.
What about APPENDICITIS?
I never saw any comment about this very common and serious disorder, from anyone of the specialists (Not Dr Mcdougall, Dr Micahel Greger …)
This disorder is very severe much more the IBS and very common,
But no one mention it,
The consensus is that once you experienced symptoms of this disorder,
You should seek medical care immediately, and if doctor suspect you have this disorder, he will tell you that a surgery to remove your APPENDICITIS is necessary in order to save your life.
It may have a devastating consequences to your future.
Because now we know, that what we forced to believe by the Medical Experts,
Is nothing but a big fat lie.
Unlike what they said the APPENDICITIS plays an important role in the
human body, like any other organ.
My question is, is there any other alternative , Not just to prevent.
I mean is there any better approach than run to do this brutal surgery, which has irreversible outcomes?

Check out this link https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3870531/ which will help address why surgery is considered the “gold standard” for treating appendicitis, although non-surgiucal approaches can be attempted in certain cases. Like you, I could find no specific research on any connection between appendicitis and nutrition. However, since we do know that a eating a whole food plant based diet can reduce inflammation (See http://nutritionfacts.org/video/boosting-immunity-while-reducing-inflammation/ ) this is one proactive approach you can take. No guarantees but keeping yourself healthy through diet may ward off possible appendectomy and certainly will help you recover smoother should you fact this surgery.

Thanks for your response.
Just to clarify, i don’t suffer from appendicitis,
Nor do i have symptoms.
I just want to know what to do in the worst case scenario,
I worry that if i will ever suffer from this terrible condition (hope not).
I will not have much time to take action and
to decide whether to listen to the doctor or not.

Prevention is obviously the key.
But i think we must educate our self to deal also with problems when they already start.

I found that Dr. Douglas Graham wrote that the best thing to do in this case,
is fasting.
What is your opinion about this suggestion?

Does eating ONLY fruits and vegetables can be more effective than
general Plant Based Diet in case of sickness such as appendicitis?

I know that Dr Michael Greger argue that there is no benefit of a Raw food
over a Plant Based Diet that include also cooked food, but what about cases of severe illness?

Does limiting the diet to contain only from raw food or even fasting have any benefit in these particular cases?

anar: I understand that your question is specifically about milk. But I think it is also a more general question about how healthful a vegan diet (no diary, meat or eggs) might be for very young children. Below is some standard information I offer people when this question comes up. I hope it is helpful.
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First, note the following quote from a position paper from the ADA: “It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.”
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Also note this quote from Dr. Greger’s book, How Not To Die, page 411-412: “Vitamin B12-fortified plant-based diets can offer health benefits for all stages of the life cycle. [When] Dr. Benjamin Spock, the most esteemed pediatrician of all time,…died at ninety-four, he advocated children be raised on a plant-based diet with no exposure to meat or dairy products. … ‘Children who grow up getting their nutrition from plant foods have a tremendous health advantage and are much less likely to develop health problems as the years go by.’ ”
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But having said that, there are some ‘gotchas’ when it comes to young children and whole plant food diets (just like there are gotchas with children and any diet). So, it really is worth spending some time reviewing accurate, evidence-based information on the topic. Here’s some ideas for specifics:
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I’ll refer you to a site called the Vegetarian Resource Group, VRG. Their articles are usually very well researched and Dr. Greger has mentioned VRG favorably at least once. VRG has a whole section on kids on their website.
Here’s the main page. Scroll down to the Nutrition section:http://www.vrg.org/family/kidsindex.htm
This is one of my favorite articles on that page. which starts with babies and goes on up:http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/kids.php
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PCRM is the Physician’s Committee For Responsible Medicine, headed up by
Dr. Barnard. Dr. Greger has mentioned Dr. Barnard and PCRM favorably in
posts and his book. Here are two articles from PCRM that are relevant. Someone else may have already referred you to PCRM (i can’t remember). If so, I apologize for the repeat.http://www.pcrm.org/pdfs/health/info_children.pdfhttp://www.pcrm.org/pdfs/health/info_advchild.pdf
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Finally, I highly recommend getting a book called, Becoming Vegan, Express Edition. That book is a great over-all reference book for the whole family. It also has an entire chapter on children and what to feed. The authors of that book have been guest bloggers here on NutritionFacts. They are very well respected and extremely knowledgeable about nutrition science and how it applies to all ages.

Human being Mother’s milk is appropriate for human children. Whale milk is appropriate for whales. Polar bear milk is appropriate for polar bears. You get the idea, I don’t need to drive it into the ground. But this might be a good place to comment that different mammal species have very different milk compositions and most species of animals do not fare well drinking the milk of a different species. Rat milk, for example, is 49% protein while human Mother’s milk is about 3% protein. Many years ago the Denver zoo had a polar bear who had twins. One was not able to nurse from her and was hand fed. The vets had a difficult time finding a milk recipe that worked for the baby as the back legs were not developing and walking was not developing. They were using cow milk of course. The baby did not thrive for a long time. They did get something figured out eventually, but the point is that milks are not interchangeable. Cows milk, btw, is about 15% protein – much, much, higher than human being milk. Read the book Whitewashed which is all about milk.
Also, Dr. Benjamin Spock, known as America’s Pediatrician, advocated no cows milk for babies and also advocated for a WFPB diet for both babies and children. His last book has this information in it. Thank you.

I think if Blv in milk causes cancer then cancer would have been a pandemic in India. Thankfully it’s not. But I am pretty sure dairy is big contributor in heart disease and diabetes which is a pandemic in India.

My step father had myelodysplastic anemia, which eventually in 30% of people with it, turns into acute myeloid leukaemia. Living in Illinois he loved and drank milk by the gallons. When I learned about WFPB nutrition and the poisonous effects of dairy 10 years ago I begged him to quit, or at least cut down. But the elderly can be very slow, (if ever) to change eating habits. Ironically, the blood donations he gave all his life, he took back in an effort to stay alive. Finally, he succumbed to a MRSA infection obtained during a knee replacement surgery. I believe that his immune system was so weakened by the blood disorder he couldn’t fight the infection and passed away in spite of being a generally vibrant 84 yrs old. I found this interesting info on milk and leukemia relationships in notmilk.com – Seems there is quite a correlation between people who live in Dairy country and rates of leukemia. http://www.notmilk.com/leukemia.html

I havent drink cow milk in years. I swore as a kid it was horrible and I fought with my parents about it. I’ve even question why we have so many broken bones and broken hips with all the calcium in milk, cheese, yogurt, icecream and all the other diary foods. Then I asked why we need cow milk but no other animal needs milk from another animal. I guess I was smarter than I should have been as a kid. I never won an argument until I started lieing about it… I told myself then it’s not a lie if they don’t ask and if they ask say no you didn’t have any milk today. I learned in high school to not put a fight up and pour 1 cup down the drain every day before my dad woke up and eat dry cherrios and no one would make me drink it. They would assume I ate it when I had Cheerios for breakfast. I’ve hated milk sense I was 5 or 6. I probably fought it then but I’ve never been a big diary or meet girl.

You asked about organically raised cattle and milk. While organically raised cattle may be less at risk for exposure to the bovine leukemia virus than those raised in traditional crowded conditions, it does not mean milk is safe to drink due to lower risk from that specific hazard. Please check out the summary on milk in NutritionFacts.org https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/dairy/ for a review of all the health hazards of diary. this will help to clarify that cutting down risk in one area when there are many other risks doesn’t justify grabbing for the milk! Hope that helps.